


The First Daughter and the Prince

by totheworldwedreamabout



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28659288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totheworldwedreamabout/pseuds/totheworldwedreamabout
Summary: June breaks down after getting bad news about her second book. After calling several people who don't pick up, she decides (reluctantly) to see if Alex is available to just distract her for a few hours, even if he can't relate to her problems.What she doesn't expect, though, is that it's Henry, not Alex, who is home. And Henry...might actually understand what she's going through? He is a writer, after all.AKA: Henry and June have a very important conversation and are precious per usual :)TW: typical in-canon cursing
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, June Claremont-Diaz & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, and then only a bit of, if you squint
Comments: 10
Kudos: 131





	The First Daughter and the Prince

**Author's Note:**

> ok so this is my first like real fic...I'm so excited to post this! I had this idea on a walk yesterday and ran home to start writing it lol

**October 15 th, 2021**

June took a deep breath and looked at the door in front of her. The door to Henry and Alex’s brownstone.

She had been hesitant to come here. Six months ago, she had moved to a modest apartment about two hours outside of New York City, but had had a meeting this morning in Brooklyn with the same company that she had signed a book deal for her memoir with almost a year ago. June had been working on a new book in the past few months and had been hoping the company would consider a second book deal.

Oh, how wrong she had been.

The second June got out of the meeting, she called Nora. No answer, as she was probably in class. That was fine. Next, she called Pez. No answer. Probably busy with his charity, so it was fine. No big deal. When she tried Bea and got no answer as well, she got a little concerned. _Yes,_ Alex was her brother, but he loved being First Son. He was dating a literal prince, for that matter. He handled his position and the influence that he had on the world perfectly. June didn’t.

So, Alex wouldn’t get her situation. He wouldn’t have the right words. But Alex was nothing if not able to have a fun and hopefully distracting night. Maybe June could just forget for a few hours and deal with it in the morning.

So, June stewed over her issues during the twenty-minute drive here. It was only a little after four on a Friday, so she assumed Henry would still be at the shelter. She knew Alex was usually done with his classes by now, so if she was lucky, she might be able to catch him before he got into studying mode for the night.

Okay. This was fine. June was on Henry and Alex’s list of approved visitors, so the PPO’s hadn’t even spared her a second glance when she got out of the car and climbed the Brownstone’s steps. It was a little strange to not see Alex’s usual Secret Service detail with them, but June figured they had worked out some sort of system so there weren’t six bodyguards sitting on the porch of the Brownstone.

Another deep breath, and she knocked. _It’s fine,_ she thought. _I can talk it out with Nora tomorrow. Just relax for tonight. I’ll be fine, it will all work out._ As if she hadn’t spent the last two hours crying about it. Alex didn’t need to know that, though. He already had enough on his plate with law school. He always looked a few steps past exhaustion in their weekly facetimes.

The door opened.

“Did you forget your key again? You know, I’m pretty sure Cash has an extra-” The door opened, and it was Henry, not Alex, who answered. He paused, mid-sentence, and blinked.

“Oh, June! Hello! I thought it was Alex because I didn’t get any sort of notification from my PPO’s…is everything alright?” Henry glanced at her, seemly studying her face.

_Oh crap, I must look horrible. And if he thought I was Alex…_

“Oh my! Hi! Sorry, I thought you would still be at the shelter. I was in the area and just thought I would stop by to say hello, I can go if you want though! I thought Alex might be back from school and I didn’t expect you to be back and I don’t want to be a bother! Okay, it was nice to see you-”

“June.”

June paused, blinking. She had been staring at a point on the door behind Henry but turned to face him, finally. Henry was wearing sweats and a T-shirt that said _NYU LAW._ He looked a bit tired, but mostly just confused and possibly a bit concerned.

“ _June._ It’s okay. You don’t have to leave. Seriously, though, you don’t look well. I understand if maybe you wanted to talk to Alex about something and don’t want to tell me…but you can if you want. How about you come in and I can maybe make you a cup of tea and we can go from there?”

June should’ve known. The PPO’s outside, as well as the lack of Secret Service agents, should’ve clued her into the fact that Henry was home, and alone. And Henry might be respecting her privacy, but June figured she’d be spilling out her life story before the night was over.

So, she just simply nodded and let Henry guide her inside and onto their living room couch. Henry said something about making the cup of tea and disappeared into the kitchen.

Henry and June had always gotten along quite well. They were Alex’s two favorite people, after all. What was there not to like about Alex’s sweet, caring boyfriend (who just happens to be a damn prince)? The thing is, though, that June and Henry hadn’t been alone very many times before. The first and really only time they had spent any time alone (other than the occasional diplomatic dance or conversation in the years before Henry and Alex got together) was the fake date, over a year ago. The Henry that June had seen that day was almost a completely different person than the one that just lead June inside. That Henry was fearful, haunted by what-if’s and scared of any sort of future. This Henry was free of the cage he had been living in for 23 years and was finally able to do something he loved every single day. Plus, he was living his truth. It made a world of a difference.

Henry was still her brother’s boyfriend, though. What was she supposed to tell him, anyway? “Yeah, I actually know that Alex wouldn’t really be able to relate to me so I wasn’t even going to bother _him_ with this shit” probably isn’t the answer Henry’s looking for. Plus, Henry was a hell of a good writer. If he ever decided to publish his work, there is no way a publisher would ever turn him down. June thinks back to some of the things she read in Alex and Henry’s emails, how raw and beautiful his writing was…

Wait.

Maybe she _should_ talk to Henry about her situation. While Alex has always, _always,_ shined in the spotlight, June knows that Henry is a bit more apprehensive. He dislikes the spotlight shone on him for being a royal, and he _knows._ He _gets_ the restrictions that their positions put on their life and their writing.

As Henry walks back into the room, June thinks that maybe it _is_ better that it was just Henry home.

Henry walks up to the couch, places the tea into June’s hands, and eases into the armchair to the right of June.

“What’s up with Alex? Is he still at the library or something?”

“According to Alex, it’s ‘Midterm season’.” Henry says, grimacing. “It’s been a busy week for the both of us. He probably won’t be home until late. A blessing that you showed up, truly. I might have spent the night cramming in work myself. Anyways…do you want to talk about it or put on a shitty movie until Alex comes home? I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to see you no matter what.”

June hesitated. She thinks that Henry will understand, but she’s literally never told a soul about most of her problems. Where does she even start? “It…I don’t know.”

Henry gives her a pointed look. “June, I think I know every single Claremont-Diaz avoidance tactic in the book by now. You don’t have to tell me a thing but do not for a second start with any of the ‘it’s stupid’ or ‘it’s not that big of a deal’. If you show up on my doorstep looking like your mother just lost an election, it’s a big deal. And it’s _okay,_ I promise. Don’t fake anything for me.”

“No, no, I want to talk about it. I just…don’t, normally?” She winces. “And, like Alex definitely wouldn’t get any of this so I kind of just planned to surprise him and maybe distract myself for tonight? God, I’d love to talk about it, but I have absolutely no idea where to start.”

Henry shifts in his seat to a more comfortable position. “Okay, I totally get that. I was absolutely shite about talking to anyone about anything important probably until Alex. Plus, you know, the whole gay thing that I had to keep secret for 23 years.” He smiles a small, sly smile. “Okay, let’s try this. What happened today?”

June sighed. “I…had a meeting with my publisher. I signed a contract after the success of my memoir that said they had to consider any other possible book ideas I had in the future, and I have this book that’s pretty different than my memoir but I’ve been hoping that they’d publish it so I brought in my manuscript today to ask if they would consider it…” She took a deep breath. “And they just flat out refused to even _consider_ publishing it. They said my memoir did well not because of any sort of writing skill but because my mom is popular, and people want to see what the Claremont White House is like. Also, some other bullshit about…events…that happened that might have boosted sales or whatever.” June was staring at a spot on the coffee table, but she could see Henry grimace at that. She knew that he knew exactly what events. “And then they just said that they didn’t want conflict of interest in me writing while still being First Daughter and that a book about anything other than my own experiences wouldn’t sell.”

The thing is, this is where it’s hard. She knows that Henry can relate to a lot of her problems, but he will never be rejected by a publisher. No one would dare to turn a Prince down, but also his writing is just that good. And a monarch is never criticized for “conflict of interest”. Stupid American politics.

So, she plows on before Henry could think of a response. “I’ve just heard that so many times, you know? And I just thought things would be different know that I’m literally a freaking New York Times bestseller! The book is about my experiences…not my mother’s or Alex’s.”

“And I guess I’m just tired of being First Daughter. And Alex _doesn’t get it_ because he will always have a spotlight on him, and he _likes it._ And he wanted to be a fucking politician, of all things. I uprooted my whole life and plans to be First Daughter…and now it just feels like that is all that I am. Like I’ll spend the rest of my life talking about what being First Daughter was like and talking about experiences and having the caveat of these eight years like a fucking asterisk on my resume. What if I never get to do what I want to do? And I guess I think you’re probably the best person who can relate to me but you’re moving on and publishing your book eventually…”

Finally, it’s all out there. Slowly, June turns to get a peek at Henry’s face. He stares right at June, determined.

“Do you know how many times I’ve tried to publish a book? I had three complete manuscripts before my gran even would entertain the idea of me publishing a book. That was January of this year, by the way. And I went through hurdle after hurdle to get to where I am right now, and I’m still having to edit this book to the Crown’s wishing quite often.” He sighed. “I get what you are saying. Alex loves this and always will, but we are put in these positions only because of the mere miracle that we were born into the families that we were. It took me so long to even somewhat stray from the image that the Crown wanted me to portray…and it’s still a daily fight. Some days I have people at the shelter telling me that I’m only in this position because I’m a Prince…or that I’d be nothing if I wasn’t a royal.”

“So, it probably seems like I’m doing my own thing now, living in New York City, finally writing a book, and running the shelter, but I’ve had to fight tooth and nail every day to get here. I thought I could try to create a legacy for myself outside of the Crown, but I think I’m realizing…you just have to embrace it, I think. It sucks, but we have platforms. I thought about publishing my book under a pen name, but I’d rather more people be able to read it and for it to impact more people’s lives. If that publisher won’t publish your second book, fight for it or find another publisher. Or, post portions on Instagram. You’ll get a crazy positive response that any publisher will jump at the opportunity of a book deal with you. And, people will forget, eventually. One day, when your mom is out of office and Alex and I are old news, you’ll have five books and people will say ‘June Claremont-Diaz? The author?’ And seriously, I totally understand what it’s like to loathe your position. I love what opportunities being Prince Henry has allowed me, but I still hate being Prince Henry. So…even if Alex or anyone else doesn’t get it, you can always confide in me.” Henry smiles a tired smile. “And I won’t tell Alex a thing, I promise.”

June barked out a laugh. “You should’ve seen Alex’s reaction when I told him last year that maybe he didn’t have to go into politics, and he could follow a different path than our parents’. I had just confronted him _finally_ about the whole-” June pauses, waving her hands in front of her, “-thing with you guys because he was _so obvious_ but had no idea that I knew and no plan to tell me. And I told him he could keep your relationship and figure out the rest, that he didn’t have to sacrifice you for fucking politics, god. He figured that eventually, though, just not from me.” She smirks.

“But oh god, thank you. It really just is amazing to talk to someone who _gets it._ Alex is Alex and then almost everyone else is affected more by their association to me than their position, and it looks just like I’m a spoiled brat who is complaining…”

Henry grins. “Yeah, it’s not exactly easy to talk to many people about the perils of being a Prince, either.”

“Really, though, thank you. I’m not sure I love the idea of pushing for my second book with this publisher, because they seem to only see me as First Daughter and absolutely nothing else, but I can try to find another publisher. I’m not giving up yet.”

A full smile from Henry now. “That’s what I love to hear. You and Alex never give up. Do keep me updated, okay? I’m sure it’ll go well but I’d love to hear about any progress, and I can read over any drafts if you’d like…It might be helpful to have another writer’s eye?”

“I’d love that.” June smiles back.

Henry’s face lights up. “Ah, while you’re here, can I ask you something? I’ve been wrestling with a decision for a while and I need your input.”

“Sure, go for it.”

A deep breath. “Okay, okay. So, I _know_ that Alex has planned for years to be in the public eye for literally his whole life, but I also know that the press is even worse for royals so for all I know he hates the attention that he gets for being with me and doesn’t want me to know. I don’t think so, but…”

June raises an eyebrow and waits for Henry to continue. She has an idea of where this conversation might be going.

“And we’ve lived together for over six months, and he’s handled the uptick in press because of that just fine, but like being an actual royal and even just my fiancé would be an insane amount of attention and I just don’t know if he’d want to deal with that for the rest of his life…”

“Fiancé?” Amusingly, Henry’s ears turn bright red.

“Er…I didn’t mean to…I mean, it’s just hypothetical…I haven’t…we haven’t done anything yet, I just was thinking, and we’ve been together coming up on two years…it probably wouldn’t be for months. Oh god, June, I’m just trying to ask if you think Alex wants this…I mean, it will be a huge deal to marry into the royal family. The wedding is a big deal and there would be a whole extra level of scrutiny on our relationship-”

June has to stop herself from laughing out of pure disbelief. How is this conversation even real? Alex is going to become what, a duke?

“Henry, he doesn’t care for a moment about the press or the scrutiny he’ll get, as long as he has _you._ I’ve known him better than almost anyone else his whole life and I have _never_ seen him as happy and whole as he is with you. I told Alex a long time ago that you were his match, and it’s still true. If you’re asking for my permission or something, fuck, go ahead. You don’t need it though. And Alex would say yes tomorrow and yes in five years. Don’t rush, but it’ll work out perfectly. Alex _will_ say yes.”

The relief that floods Henry’s face is probably evident from a mile away. The conversation sobers a bit from there, onto lighter topics and eventually Henry orders take-out from a local Chinese place while they wait for Alex to come home.

Three hours later, Alex finally gets home from the library, exhausted but pleased with the work he was able to complete. He walks into the living room to find an episode of the Great British Bake Off playing on the television, and to his surprise, June and Henry are lying on the couch, asleep. Alex smiles at the sight of his two favorite people, who clearly had spent the night together. He figures that there is a story to why June is in town, but right now he’s content to take off his shoes and squeeze himself in between his boyfriend and his sister. Right where he wants to be.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed it! Let me know what you guys thought :)


End file.
